Clara Mira
Position: Center Director
Ms. Mira, a Spanish national, has held several positions at the IMF, including more recently Mission Chief for Moldova in the European Department, Mission Chief for Guinea in the African Department, Resident Representative to Uganda, senior economist and economist for Uganda and Niger. During her assignments, she has been in charge of negotiating and monitoring several IMF-supported programs, including the Moldovan Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF), ECF/EFF, PSIs, and emergency assistance (covid and food shocks) programs. She has also worked extensively on the integration of TA/CD with surveillance and lending programs, on EAC regional integration, and inequality. Before joining the Fund in 2010, she worked in Banco de España, the IMF Executive Board, and the European Commission.
Kenneth Ochola
Position: Customs Administration Advisor
Kenneth Ochola, a Kenyan national joined AFE on September 1, 2020 as Resident Revenue Administration Advisor (Customs). Ochola is a career Customs Specialist and has worked for Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) for the last 29 years in various capacities rising to the position of Acting Commissioner of Customs and Border Control. He has broad experience in Customs Policy, Security and Operations. Between 2010 and 2012, he served as the Head of World Customs Organization Regional Intelligence Liaison Office, for Eastern and Southern Africa. In 2004 he was seconded to the Kenya National Counter Terrorism Centre in Nairobi for a period of two years. His most recent posting within KRA prior to joining AFE, was as the KRA Regional Coordinator responsible for Revenue Administration in Southern Region. Ochola holds a Master of Business Administration – Finance, from Leicester University (UK). He graduated from Kenyatta University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Business Studies in 1990.
Rameck Masaire
Position: Tax Administration Advisor
Rameck Masaire a Zimbabwean National joined AFE in February 2022 as a Tax Administration Advisor. Rameck holds an Executive Master’s Degree in Business Administration and before joining AFE he was working for the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) as Acting Commissioner General. Besides ZIMRA Rameck also worked at Ernst & Young and an Executive Director in the Business Tax Advisory Department.
Faith Mazani
Position: Medium-Term Revenue Advisor
Faith Mazani, a Zimbabwean national, joined AFRITAC East in January 2024 as a Revenue Administration Advisor supporting four countries in developing and implementing medium-term revenue strategies (MTRS). Faith joined the Center from Head Office where she was a Technical Assistance Advisor. She was also an Advisor in AFRITAC West 2 and AFRITAC South and served as the Commissioner General of the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority.
Thomas Benninger
Position: Tax Policy Advisor
Tom Benninger, a Swiss national, joined East AFRITAC as a tax policy advisor in September 2024. Tom is a senior economist with the IMF’s Fiscal Affairs Department (FAD). He has been with the IMF since 2017 where his responsibilities included the lead role for the implementation of results-based management in FAD, tax policy economist with a focus on extractive industry taxation and fiscal economist on the country teams for Mauritania and the Kyrgyz Republic. From 2009 to 2012, he worked for the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) and the Irish Embassy on the Joint Budget Support Operation in Uganda mainly focusing on fiscal policy. From 2012 to 2016, Tom worked at the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), responsible for macroeconomic support programs in Ghana and South Africa and as a lead on budget support policy and good governance in the commodity sector. Tom holds a double Masters’ Degree in International Affairs and Governance from the University in St. Gallen, Switzerland and Sciences Po Paris, France as well as a Master in Advanced Studies in Development Policy from the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland.
Amra Srdanovic
Position: Public Financial Management Advisor
Amra Srdanovic is a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina and has joined the East AFRITAC Centre in June 2019. Prior to joining the Centre, Amra has worked as the IMF Resident Public Financial Management Adviser in the Royal Kingdom of Bhutan, assisting the Ministry of Finance in strengthening its accounting, reporting and treasury management functions and implementation of electronic payments. Amra has over 20 years of PFM experience providing high level advice to Ministers of Finance, leading and supporting government-wide PFM reforms and developing effective internal control systems while embracing management principles of accountability and transparency.
Matthew Quillinan
Position: Macro-Fiscal Analysis Advisor
Matthew Quillinan, an Australian, has over 20 years’ experience in a broad variety of Public Financial Management areas, including macro-fiscal forecasting and frameworks, tax and revenue policy and budget preparation and execution. Prior to joining East AFRITAC in February 2020, he worked in a variety of roles in the Australian Treasury and Tax Office, and as a resident macro-fiscal advisor in countries such as the Solomon Islands, Indonesia, The Gambia and Sierra Leone.
Dzingai Francis Chapfuwa
Position: Public Finance Management Advisor
Since December 2021, Mr. Chapfuwa, a Zimbabwean national, has been an IMF PFM advisor providing capacity development across Sub-Saharan Africa on fiscal risk management and state-owned enterprises. In that role he has worked with most AFE countries and collaborated with AFE advisors. Before working with the IMF, Mr. Chapfuwa had over 20 years of experience in public sector management in South Africa and Zimbabwe. In South Africa, he has held positions including Chief Economist in Economic Modelling and Research at the Department of Public Enterprises, and Director of Policy Analysis at Office of the Premier of Northwest Province; and has worked within the National Treasury. His roles in South Africa included budgetary management, fiscal and expenditure policy and strengthening financial oversight of state-owned enterprises. In Zimbabwe, he has worked both for the National Treasury and the Reserve Bank. Mr. Chapfuwa holds a Ph. D. in Economics from the University of Johannesburg (2020), Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com) Honours in Econometrics (2019) from the University of Pretoria, a MA in Business Administration from Tshwane University (2013), a Mphil in Development Finance from the University of Stellenbosch (2014) and a Bachelor of Science (BSc) Honours in Economics (2003) from the University of Zimbabwe.
Archil Imnaishvili
Position: Macroeconomic Framework Advisor
Mr. Archil Imnaishvili Joined AFRITAC East in August 2024. He has more than 15 years of experience of working in the central bank. Being the head of the Macroeconomics and Statistics Department at the National Bank of Georgia Mr. Archil Imnaishvili was a major contributor to the transformative change of the policy from monetary targeting with heavy exchange rate control to inflation targeting with flexible exchange rate regime. As part of this shift, he had very active role in the introduction of policy interest rate instrument, in the move from volume-based to price-based monetary operations, and the revamp of FX intervention mechanism; in the development of analytical and modelling capacity in the bank and the introduction of the FPAS as the framework for the decision-making process; in the reform of monetary policy communication in the bank that ensured greater transparency and predictability of monetary policy. Mr. Archil Imnaishvili has experience of delivering technical assistance and peer-to-peer learning activities to central bank staff of other countries. Mr. Archil Imnaishvili holds a master’s degree in economics from the Central European University.
Georgios Genimakis
Position: Financial Sector Supervision Advisor
Georgios Genimakis, a Greek national, joined the East Africa Regional Technical Assistance Center (East AFRITAC) in September 2021 as the Resident Advisor in Financial Sector Supervision. He has extensive experience in prudential banking supervision having worked previously as a senior supervisor at the European Central Bank supervising complex cross-border institutions and as an onsite inspector at the Bank of Greece where he conducted diverse inspections in different jurisdictions and participated in critical projects with several international stakeholders. He has also worked for several years for a commercial bank in corporate banking lending. He holds a PhD in Finance, an MSc in Banking and International Finance, an MBA and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics.
Tiviniton Makuve
Position: Debt Management Advisor
Tiviniton is a Zimbabwean national with over 10 years’ experience in sovereign debt management as both practitioner and advisor. From 2014 to 2022, he worked at the Macroeconomic and Financial Management Institute of Eastern and Southern Africa (MEFMI), responsible for planning and coordinating the implementation of capacity building programmes aimed at enhancing sovereign debt and asset management practices of 14 member countries. His main areas of focus were debt transparency, strategy formulation, debt sustainability analysis, bond markets and reserves management. Prior to this role, he worked for the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. Tiviniton holds a Masters’ Degree in Economics from the University of Zimbabwe and is an Accredited Fellow (in sovereign debt management) of the MEFMI Institute.
Archil Mestvirishvili
Position: Forecasting and Policy Analysis System Advisor
Archil Mestvirishvili, a Georgian national joined AFE in May 2024 as a Resident Advisor in Monetary Policy Forecasting and Policy Analysis System (FPAS). He has more than 20 years of experience in central banking. He was deputy governor of Georgia’s Central bank for two terms (14 years). He has been responsible for Monetary Policy, Macroeconomic Research, Monetary Operations, International Reserves Management and Payment systems. He is an Economics by Education and a career Central Banker. He holds MA from Tbilisi State University in Mathematics (1994) and MA in Economics from Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA (2002). He left his position at Central Bank November 2023 and since then he was involved in several Short-term Technical Assistance projects.
Robin Youll
Position: Real Sector Statistics Advisor
Robin Youll brings 38 years of extensive management and technical experience in statistics. Prior to joining Afritac East, he served as the Real Sector Statistics Adviser at the IMF’s technical assistance centre in the Caribbean. From 2000 to 2020, Robin was a Deputy Director at the UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS), where he honed his skills as a leader, manager, IT developer, and statistical expert specializing in national accounts. During this tenure, he also initiated and led the ONS’s technical assistance programme, which supports developing countries. In the 1990s, Robin lived and worked in Africa as part of the UK government’s technical assistance programme. Over his career, he has provided statistical services to more than 50 countries worldwide. Robin is also a Fellow of the UK’s Royal Statistical Society.
Christelle Groenewald
Position: Government Finance Statistics Advisor
Christelle Groenewald, a South African national, joined the East Africa Regional Technical Assistance Center in February 2023 as the Government Finance Statistics Advisor. She has more than 22 years’ experience in public finance at the Central Bank of South Africa (SARB) where she was overseeing the unit responsible for compiling government finance- and public sector debt statistics.
William Wakuganda
Position: Local Economist
William Wakuganda, a Tanzanian national, joined AFE in January 2017 as Economic Analyst. Previously, he worked with the German Investment and Development Corporation and Technoserve Inc. in the areas of project monitoring, evaluation and management. He holds a MSc in Economics and Finance for Development from the University of Bradford.
Michael Byansheko
Position: Local Economist
Michael Byansheko, a Tanzanian national, joined AFE in August 2023 as an Economist. In his previous role, he served as an Assistant Lecturer in the Economics Department at the University of Pretoria, teaching Economic Analysis and Public Economics. He has also worked at the World Bank’s project in the Competition Commission of South Africa that aimed to reformulate the antimonopoly policy to increase its impact, effectiveness, and sustainability. He holds a Master’s of Commerce in Economics (Cum Laude), a Bachelor’s of Commerce (Honours) in Economics, and a Bachelor’s of Science in Mathematical Statistics from the University of Pretoria.
Edina Moshi
Position: Office Manager
Ms. Moshi is the Office Manager at IMF East AFRITAC. She is responsible for Office Management and Accounting. She joined the Center right after its opening at 2002. She was seconded from the Bank of Tanzania.
Warda M. Kassim
Position: Administrative Assistant
Ms. Warda Kassim joined the Center in July of 2017 as an Administrative Assistant. She has been seconded from the Bank of Tanzania.
Evonne Massawe
Position: IT Officer
Ms. Evonne Massawe is the IT Officer at East AFRITAC. Prior to this, she worked for the Economic and Research Foundation on a Project - The Tanzania Development Gateway (TzDG) - an Internet portal that provides and promotes on-line networking, sharing, exchange and dissemination of knowledge, ideas and information on development matters.
Neema Mahenge
Position: Administrative Assistant
Neema is an Administrative Assistant for the East AFRITAC office in Dar es Salaam. She is seconded to AFE from the Bank of Tanzania. She joined AFE in February 2023.
Sylvanus Kashinje
Position: Administrative
Sylvanus is an Admin Assistant for the AFRITAC East office in Dar es Salaam. He is seconded to AFE from the Bank of Tanzania. He joined AFE in January 2022.
Amina Karuma
Position: Administrative Assistant
Amina is an Administrative Assistant for the East AFRITAC office in Dar es Salaam. She is seconded to AFE from the Bank of Tanzania.
Wilhelm Kinabo
Position: Office Driver
Wilhelm is the office driver but also assists new Resident Advisors acquire their resident permits, diplomatic IDs, drivers licenses, TIN, etc., after the necessary documentation has been submitted to the authorities.
Stamili Togwa
Position: Office Attendant